Huawei is launching pre-orders for the new MateBook Fold S, something that is going to change how we use the big screen in a portable fashion. It is important to mention this announcement, because they bring a foldable 14.7-inch display to use as a laptop, perfect for those who want to use the power of a desktop screen with the convenience of a workstation. This device brings a flexible factor that can be useful in different situations.
Huawei MateBook Fold S pre-orders open with 14.7-inch screen and split foldable keyboard
MateBook Fold S features a 14.7-inch foldable display that acts as the main screen when fully extended. On the side, Huawei includes this interesting external feature called the Live Small Square Screen. This external Live Small Square Screen allows quick access to notifications and media controls without needing to open the big screen.
Specifications
- Screen Size: 14.7 inches
- External Display: Live Small Square Screen
- Keyboard Type: Foldable physical keyboard with left keys and right trackpad
- Operating System: HarmonyOS
As for input options, the MateBook Fold S has the flexible hardware to match. There's a foldable physical keyboard that breaks up your typing experience with the keys on the left and the trackpad on the right. The foldable physical keyboard gives you a tactile typing experience while still keeping a compact form when it's folded. The operating system is HarmonyOS, and it handles the switching between different screen modes and input setups.
We expect that we're going to be able to view information on the back screen. Right now this is a 'we expect' kind of detail. The operating system has a virtual keyboard and a special extended virtual trackpad to pair with the physical input. A physical keyboard and virtual trackpad are available for different preferences.
The MateBook Fold S is available for pre-order starting November 14, 2024 10:08 for global availability. On November 14, 2024 we started seeing the availability for pre-orders of this device. We've been following the MateBook Fold S closely.
To see more about the hardware lineage, take a look at our previous article on Huawei MateBook Fold Specs. You can now pre-order this device from official channels.
With the big foldable screen, splitting physical keyboard, secondary external display, HarmonyOS, and expected rear screen information features, the MateBook Fold S is quite the package. Pre-orders for the Huawei MateBook Fold S are now available.
Is the 14.7 inch panel actually 14.7 diagonal or just a flat measurement? Also, does HarmonyOS support standard x86 apps natively or do we need emulation for anything besides Huawei desktop suites? I need to know if my development tools will run without a virtual machine layer.
HarmonyOS is ARM based primarily so x86 emulation is a heavy lift. You might get some success with Proton if they expose a Linux compatibility layer, but standard Windows binaries are likely a no go. The split keyboard layout is just a UI preference in the OS settings though. I would hold off until someone benchmarks the translation overhead.